release year: 1987
genre: horror
viewing setting: home DVD, 10/10/99
what I expected: another crappy sequel
what I got: a sequel that was better than the last one, but not by much
synopsis: The last of the Elm Street children are all locked in the same mental help place, which makes them easy prey for the can't-stay-dead Freddy.
impressions: This sequel suffered from some stupid characters (the old head nurse comes to mind) and a plodding pace at times. Its main problem, though, was the further inconsistency of Freddy's powers. I mean, at the beginning of this series he existed only in dreams, and then they killed him, and then he came back at the end. In the second movie, he could exist in both worlds, and had all kinds of new powers, and they killed him, and then he came back at the end. And in this one, he not only had power in the dream and the real worlds, but he could do damn near anything, and then they killed him "for good" and then he was still around at the end. On top of that, they continued with the inconsistent powers and the low-volume dialogue, high-volume "scary" music bullshit. The formula's getting old, guys.
acting: Robert Englund hammed it up yet more, but at least this time there were some interesting protagonists.
the good: Some good special-effects and deaths, actual origin of Freddy finally revealed, good prolonged female nudity scene, funny karate-skeleton action near end.
the bad: Bad guy with ever-changing but always limitless powers, badly-mastered sound that forces you to turn the volume way up to hear dialogue and then blasts you with pointless music as Freddy strikes.
most entertaining moment: Freddy's skeleton goes into karate mode and clobbers John Saxon with a shovel.
final word: Worth seeing for entertainment value.
rating: C-